Dr. Jeffrey Harris is a professor of surgery and chief of the division of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at the UCSD School of Medicine. Harris is a neuro-otologic surgeon who deals with disorders of the ear, hearing and balance, and tumors that affect the skull base. He is also an expert in otosclerosis and the surgery to correct it. Since 1987, Harris has led the UCSD division of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, which is among the top group of NIH-funded programs for this specialty and has been listed as one of the best otolaryngology programs in the country by U.S. News and World Report. A pioneer in the effects of inflammation of the inner ear, Harris has led a national multicenter trial on immunosuppression in autoimmune deafness. His research focuses on the causes of deafness and other disorders such as acoustic neuromas, skull base surgery, Menieres disease and autoimmune inner ear disease. He has served as chief of staff for UCSD Medical Center at Hillcrest and was the first chief of staff for the John M. and Sally B. Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. Harris has served on several scientific review boards, including the NIH, the American Otological Society Research Fund, the Deafness Research Foundation, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery and is on the Editorial Boards of nine journals. He co-chaired the Expert Panel on Hearing and Hearing Impairment for the National Institutes of Health, which identified the priorities for federal funding of hearing research in the 1990s.